Marriage and Property
Marriage and Property
Marriage and property is central to the first major project I worked on, which resulted in the book Women, property and Islam: Palestinian experiences 1920-1990. The main point the book makes is that whether women gain access to property depends first of all on how they acquire it: through inheritance, the dower, or paid labor, which intersect with their class position. The book is based on long-term fieldwork in the city of Nablus, and in villages and refugee camps in the Nablus region.
Later, I worked together with colleagues in Palestine on a comparison of marriages and weddings in the first and second intifada. Whereas the first intifada was a time of transgressive marriages amongst activists and austere weddings, this was different during the second intifada. After the Oslo accords activism had become less valued, while a consumption culture gained traction.
Next, I have been involved as PI and researcher in a large project about controversial Muslim marriages (ERC advanced grant on "Problematising 'Muslim Marriages': Ambiguities and Contestations"). The main focus of this project was on understanding where, how and by whom particular kinds of marriages have become defined as a problem in need of intervention, and especially how this relates to the experiences of those entering into such marriages. My own fieldwork has been with women who had converted to Islam in the Netherlands and entered into religious-only marriages, as well as with Palestinian women political ex-prisoners, who entered into controversial marriages.
Books I have co-edited on Muslim marriages:
Global Dynamics of Shia Marriages: Religion, Gender, and Belonging, (with Yafa Shanneik). Rutgers University Press, 2021.
In this volume:
Annelies Moors and Yafa Shanneik, 2021, 'Introduction', in Global Dynamics of Shia Marriages: Religion, Gender, and Belonging, Rutgers University Press, Pp. 1-20
Asgarilaleh, Tara and Annelies Moors, 2021. 'Laboratory sigheh: The (dis)entanglements of temporary marriage and third party donation in Iran', in Global Dynamics of Shia Marriages: Religion, Gender, and Belonging, Rutgers University Press, Pp. 135-150.
Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life (with Julie McBrien). Leuven University Press, 2023.
In this volume:
Moors, Annelies and Julie McBrien, (eds.), 2023. Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Religion, Politics, and Intimate Life. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 9-30.
Samah Saleh and Annelies Moors, Palestinian Women Prisoners : The Relational Politics of Incarceration, Marriage, and Separation, 2023. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 103-123.
Moors, Annelies and Vanessa Vroon-Najem, 2023. When Islamic Marriage Travels to the Netherlands: Convert Muslim Women (Re)Signifying the Marriage Guardian and the Dower. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 223-247.
Kisch, Shifra, Rahma Bavelaar and Annelies Moors, 2023. The Intimate Politics of Publicly Staging “Mixed Couples”: The Gendered Racialization of a Poster Campaign. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 251-268.
I co-edited three special issues of journals:
Muslim Marriages: Plurality of Norms and Practices, Hawwa 1 (with Rajnaara Akhtar and Mulki al-Sharmani), 2022.
Non-state registered marriages, Sociology of Islam 6, 3 (with Rajnaara Akhtar and Rebecca Probyn), 2018
Informal Muslim Marriages: Regulations and Contestations, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 7, 3. (with Rajnaara Akhtar and Rebecca Probyn), 2018
Writings on controversial Muslim marriages:
Moors, Annelies, 2025, 'Convert Muslim women encountering Islamic marriage and making hijra: A reflection. HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory 13 (2): 522-526.
Vroon-Najem, Vanessa, and Annelies Moors. 2025. "Contestations about polygyny: Converts to Islam in the Netherlands." In Relationships Rights and Legal Pluralism: The Inadequacy of Marriage Laws in Europe, edited by Mateusz Stępień and Anna Juzaszek. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp 143-156.
Moors, Annelies, 2018, ‘Adopting a face-veil, concluding an Islamic marriage: autonomy, agency, and liberal secular rule’, in Marie-Claire Foblets, Michele Graziadei and Alison Dundes Renteln eds., Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies. A principle and Its Paradoxes. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 127-140.
Moors, Annelies, 2016, ‘Chatting about marriage with female migrants to Syria: Agency beyond the victim versus activist paradigm’, Anthropology Today 32: 22-25 (with Aysha Navest and Martijn de Koning)
Moors, Annelies, 2014, Waarom vrouwen ‘islamitische huwelijken’ aangaan. Wetgeving, seksualiteit en islam in Nederland en daarbuiten. FORUM Verkenningen, 25 pp.
Moors, Annelies, 2013, ‘Unregistered Islamic marriages: Anxieties about sexuality and Islam’, in Maurits Berger (ed.), The Application of Sharia in the West. Leiden University Press, pp. 141-164.
Writings on gendered property:
Moors, Annelies, 2011, ‘Mahr meanings, dower dealings: Reflections from Palestine’ in Rubya Mehdi and Jorgen Nielsen, eds., Embedding Mahr in the European Legal System. Copenhagen: Djøf Publishers. Pp. 21-33.
Moors, Annelies, 2008, ‘Registering a token dower: The multiple meanings of a legal practice’ in Baudouin Dupret, Barbara Drieskens and Annelies Moors, eds., Narratives of Truth in Islamic Law. London: IB Taurus, pp. 85-104. 2008 registering token dower.pdf
Moors, Annelies, 2004, ‘Women, Gender, and Inheritance: Arab States’. Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Countries, volume 2. Leiden: Brill. Pp. 299-302.
Moors, Annelies, 1997, ‘Een aanzienlijke som geld of slechts een symbolisch bedrag’, Geld en goed. Jaarboek voor vrouwengeschiedenis 17: 99-114.
Moors, Annelies, 1997, ‘Over vrouwen en bezit: juridische documenten en mondelinge verhalen’, in S.W.E. Rutten, red., Recht van de Islam 14, Maastricht: RIMO. Pp. 39-49.
Moors, Annelies, 1996, ‘Gender Relations and Inheritance. Person, Power and Property’, in Deniz Kandiyoti, ed., Gendering the Middle East. Emerging Perspectives, London and New York: IB Taurus Publishers, pp. 69-84.
Moors, Annelies, 1995, Women, property and Islam. Palestinian experiences, 1920-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moors, Annelies, 1994, ‘Women and Dower Property in Twentieth-Century Palestine: The Case of Jabal Nablus’, Islamic Law and Society 1, 3: 301-331 1994 women and dower.pdf
Moors, Annelies, 1991, ‘Gender, Property and Power: Mahr and Marriage in a Palestinian Village’, in Davis, K., M. Leijenaar and J. Oldersma (eds.), The Gender of Power. London: Sage. Pp. 111-129.
Moors, Annelies, 1991, ‘Vrouwen en geld: historische bronnen over de mahr’ in Paul Aarts, red., Geld, goed en godsdienst in het Midden-Oosten. Muiderberg: Coutinho. Pp. 101-118.
Moors, Annelies, 1990, ‘Gender Hierarchy in a Palestinian Village: The Case of Al-Balad.’ In K. Glavanis and P. Glavanis, (Eds.), The Rural Middle East: Peasant Lives and Modes of Production. London: Zed Press. Pp. 195-210.
Moors, Annelies, 1986, ‘Toegang tot bezit. Dorpsvrouwen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever.’ Antropologische Verkenningen 5, 2: 23-37
List of Publications chronologically:
2025:
Moors, Annelies. "Convert Muslim women encountering Islamic marriage and making hijra: A reflection." HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 15.2 (2025): 522-525.
2023:
McBrien, Julie and Annelies Moors, (eds.), 2023. Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Leuven University Press. 370 pp.
Moors, Annelies and Julie McBrien, (eds.), 2023. Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Religion, Politics, and Intimate Life. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 9-30.
Samah Saleh and Annelies Moors, Palestinian Women Prisoners : The Relational Politics of Incarceration, Marriage, and Separation, 2023. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 103-123.
Moors, Annelies and Vanessa Vroon-Najem, 2023. When Islamic Marriage Travels to the Netherlands: Convert Muslim Women (Re)Signifying the Marriage Guardian and the Dower. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 223-247.
Kisch, Shifra, Rahma Bavelaar and Annelies Moors, 2023. The Intimate Politics of Publicly Staging “Mixed Couples”: The Gendered Racialization of a Poster Campaign. In Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage: Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Life. Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors, (eds.), Leuven University Press, p. 251-268.
Moors, Annelies, 2023. 'Women and marriage in the Middle East.' Handbook on Women in the Middle East, edited by Suad Joseph and Zeina Zaatari. Routledge. Pp 184-193.
2021:
Yafa Shanneik and Annelies Moors, eds., 2021. Global Dynamics of Shia Marriages: Religion, Gender, and Belonging R. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press
Annelies Moors and Yafa Shanneik, 2021, 'Introduction', in Global Dynamics of Shia Marriages: Religion, Gender, and Belonging, Rutgers University Press, Pp. 1-20
Asgarilaleh, Tara and Annelies Moors, 2021. 'Laboratory sigheh: The (dis)entanglements of temporary marriage and third party donation in Iran', in Global Dynamics of Shia Marriages: Religion, Gender, and Belonging, Rutgers University Press, Pp. 135-150.
2020:
Rajnaara Akhtar, Mulki al-Sharmani and Annelies Moors, 2020. Introduction. Special issue on Muslim Marriages: Plurality of Norms and Practices, Hawwa 1 (2020): 1-9. Advance online publication. Printed version 2022.
Penny Johnson and Annelies Moors. 2020. Foreign to Palestinian Society? ‘urfi Marriage, Moral Dangers and the Colonial Present, Hawwa 1 (2020): 159-181. Advance online publication https://brill.com/view/journals/haww/aop/article-10.1163-15692086-12341390/article-10.1163-15692086-12341390.xml
Moors, Annelies and Vanessa Vroon-Najem, 2020, Converts, Marriage, and the Dutch Nation-state: Contestations about Muslim Women’s Well-being’, Wellbeing of Transnational Muslim Families: Marriage, Law and Gender, edited by Marja Tillikainen, Mulki Al-Sharmani, and Sanna Mustasaari. London: Routledge.
2018:
Moors, Annelies, Rajnaara Akhtar and Rebecca Probyn, 2018, Special Issue Non-state registered marriages, Sociology of Islam 6, 3
Moors, Annelies, Rajnaara Akhtar and Rebecca Probyn, 2018, 'Introduction: Contextualizing Islamic religious-only Marriages', Sociology of Islam 6, 3: 263-273.
Moors, Annelies, Martijn de Koning and Vanessa Vroon-Najem, 2018, 'Concluding an ‘Illegal Islamic Marriage’ in the Netherlands: Controversy, Criminalization and Contestations', Sociology of Islam 6, 3: 274-296
Akhtar, Rajnaara, Rebecca Probyn, and Annelies Moors, 2018, Special Issue Informal Muslim Marriages: Regulations and Contestations, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 7, 3.
Akhtar, Rajnaara, Rebecca Probyn, and Annelies Moors, 2018, 'Introduction: Informal Muslim Marriages: Regulations and Contestations, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 7, 3: 367-375.
Moors, Annelies, 2018, ‘Adopting a face-veil, concluding an Islamic marriage: autonomy, agency, and liberal secular rule’, in Marie-Claire Foblets, Michele Graziadei and Alison Dundes Renteln eds., Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies. A principle and Its Paradoxes. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 127-140.
2016:
Navest, Ayesha, Martijn de Koning and Annelies Moors, 2016, ‘Chatting about marriage with female migrants to Syria: Agency beyond the victim versus activist paradigm’, Anthropology Today 32: 22-25
2014:
Moors, Annelies, 2014, Waarom vrouwen ‘islamitische huwelijken’ aangaan. Wetgeving, seksualiteit en islam in Nederland en daarbuiten. FORUM Verkenningen, 25 pp.
2013:
Moors, Annelies, 2013, ‘Unregistered Islamic marriages: Anxieties about sexuality and Islam’, in Maurits Berger (ed.), The Application of Sharia in the West. Leiden University Press, pp. 141-164.
2011:
Moors, Annelies, 2011, ‘Mahr meanings, dower dealings: Reflections from Palestine’ in Rubya Mehdi and Jorgen Nielsen, eds., Embedding Mahr in the European Legal System. Copenhagen: Djøf Publishers. Pp. 21-33.
2009:
Johnson, Penny, Lamis Abu-Nahleh and Annelies Moors, 2009, ‘Al-a'ras wa l-harb, tartabiyyat al-zawaj wa ihtifalatuhu khilal al-intifadatayn al-filastiniyatayn. [previously published in English in AMEWS 5 (2009) 3: 11-34] http://sv3.drupalgardens.com/sites/sv3.drupalgardens.com/files/jmews-arabic-complete.pdf, pp. 33-55.
Johnson, Penny, Lamis Abu-Nahleh and Annelies Moors, 2009, ‘Weddings and war. Marriage arrangements and celebrations during two intifadas. JMEWS 5, 3: 11-34. 2009. For the Arabic version of this article go to http://sv3.drupalgardens.com/sites/sv3.drupalgardens.com/files/jmews-arabic-complete.pdf
2008:
Moors, Annelies, 2008, ‘Registering a token dower: The multiple meanings of a legal practice’ in Baudouin Dupret, Barbara Drieskens and Annelies Moors, eds., Narratives of Truth in Islamic Law. London: IB Taurus, pp. 85-104. 2008 registering token dower.pdf
2004 and earlier:
Moors, Annelies, 2004, ‘Women, Gender, and Inheritance: Arab States’. Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Countries, volume 2. Leiden: Brill. Pp. 299-302.
Moors, Annelies, 1997, ‘Een aanzienlijke som geld of slechts een symbolisch bedrag’, Geld en goed. Jaarboek voor vrouwengeschiedenis 17: 99-114.
Moors, Annelies, 1997, ‘Over vrouwen en bezit: juridische documenten en mondelinge verhalen’, in S.W.E. Rutten, red., Recht van de Islam 14, Maastricht: RIMO. Pp. 39-49.
Moors, Annelies, 1996, ‘Gender Relations and Inheritance. Person, Power and Property’, in Deniz Kandiyoti, ed., Gendering the Middle East. Emerging Perspectives, London and New York: IB Taurus Publishers, pp. 69-84.
Moors, Annelies, 1995, Women, property and Islam. Palestinian experiences, 1920-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moors, Annelies, 1994, ‘Women and Dower Property in Twentieth-Century Palestine: The Case of Jabal Nablus’, Islamic Law and Society 1, 3: 301-331 1994 women and dower.pdf
Moors, Annelies, 1991, ‘Gender, Property and Power: Mahr and Marriage in a Palestinian Village’, in Davis, K., M. Leijenaar and J. Oldersma (eds.), The Gender of Power. London: Sage. Pp. 111-129.
Moors, Annelies, 1991, ‘Vrouwen en geld: historische bronnen over de mahr’ in Paul Aarts, red., Geld, goed en godsdienst in het Midden-Oosten. Muiderberg: Coutinho. Pp. 101-118.
Moors, Annelies, 1990, ‘Gender Hierarchy in a Palestinian Village: The Case of Al-Balad.’ In K. Glavanis and P. Glavanis, (Eds.), The Rural Middle East: Peasant Lives and Modes of Production. London: Zed Press. Pp. 195-210.
Moors, Annelies, 1986, ‘Toegang tot bezit. Dorpsvrouwen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever.’ Antropologische Verkenningen 5, 2: 23-37.